Acknowledging the Silent Stigma of Student Parents

Research from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research estimates around one in five college students has a dependent under the age of 18. However, many parents have started college but not completed a degree, with 2021 data showing 11.1 million parents with some college credit and no degree who have not attended college within the past three months.

Despite making up a significant number of learners, student parents are often a hidden population, due in part to institutional policies that make colleges unwelcoming to parenting students and an internalized shame around being a caregiver, explains Amber Angel, program officer at ECMC Foundation.

To promote student success among college students with children, colleges and universities need to evaluate how direct and indirect policies can put student parents in the shadows, Angel shares.

Campus culture: One of the primary barriers to supporting student parents is a lack of data, both at the state and institutional level. In the U.S. only six states require colleges and universities to collect data on if their students are parents: Oregon, California, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Texas.

“How does an institution direct resources to a population if they don’t know they exist?” Angel says.

Among student parents nationally, a majority are single mothers, Hispanic or Black, enrolled at community colleges and working full-time. Understanding who is on a college’s campus can help guide policy making, such as providing priority registration to parents so they can complete their degree in a timely manner while juggling other responsibilities.

Silent shame: While national data points to few student parents completing a degree in six years, many parenting students earn comparable, and sometimes higher, grades compared to their nonparenting peers.

“It’s not about whether or not they’re committed or they’re hardworking,” Angel says. “It’s more about having supports and visibility.”

Often, student parents are highly motivated to complete a degree because they are striving to improve the lives of their family members. But spending that time in school and away from their family can foster feelings of guilt, too, Angel explains.

Physical spaces on campus also reinforce the idea that parenting students do not belong on campus. Angel, who was a parenting student, considered herself a PCP learner, only traveling between the parking lot, class and parking lot on her campus.

“I never got to engage in campus culture; it was really hard for me to do study groups, even though I needed the tutoring because the library wasn’t very welcoming of a 2-year-old,” Angel says.

What to do: Administrators can promote retention and belonging among student parents on college campuses by taking actions such as the following.

• Create child-friendly policies. New policies might be including language in syllabi that highlights Title IX resources, or reimagining existing policies could mean allowing children in student service offices like financial aid. Portland State University loans backpacks to student parents, called fun kits, stocked with age-appropriate activities to keep children entertained while their parents complete paperwork or other tasks on campus.
• Encourage visibility of student parents. Parenting students have to disclose their status to colleges and universities to receive resources. Having opportunities to uplift or encourage students with children can boost feelings of belonging and get learners connected to services. The California Alliance for Student Parent Success sponsored a Bring Your Kid to Work Day at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, to do just that.
• Identify spaces for student parents. Getting connected to her college’s family resource center was “a really big game changer that kept me connected and kept me enrolled,” Angel says. A resource center, similar to a veterans’ success center or other affinity group–focused space, can connect student parents and build relationships across campus. Facilities can also be modified to consider student parents’ needs, such as putting high chairs in the dining hall or games in student support offices.
• Unify student parent services. Institutions of higher education are known for being siloed in their resources, and parenting students may not be cognizant of the various offices that can support their needs. Creating a one-stop physical or online location can increase awareness of existing resources and encourage utilization among student parents. Institutions should also consider expanding student parent supports beyond a childcare center, because that only serves one group of student parents’ kids, Angel says.
• Invest in financial resources. A 2023 report from Trellis Strategies found student parents were more likely to be at risk of basic needs insecurity compared to their nonparenting peers. Providing affordable childcare, financial aid programs or basic needs support can help retain student parents, as well.

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This article has been updated to correct the number of states with laws regarding student parent data collection to include Oregon.